News

Together with the Wrocław Academic Hub we present below some of international scientific conferences organised locally that are definitely worth to attend.

The Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub is cordially inviting all the Academia Members and other interested scientists and scholars to take part in the scientific events that are taking place in Wrocław this year.

Together with the Wrocław Academic Hub we present below some of international scientific conferences organised locally that are definitely worth to attend.

5th International Conference on RARE EARTH MATERIALS (REMAT’18)

The 5th International Conference on RARE EARTH MATERIALS (REMAT) Advances in Synthesis, Studies and Applications, which will be held on the 16-18 May, 2018. During the meeting the latest research and advances in both academic and commercial aspects of rare-earths will be presented. The Conference will be partaken by researchers, engineers, government officers and company delegates, from all of the fields regarding rare-earths, in order to gather, present and share the outcomes of their work, including discussion concerning future strategies for different types of activity.

27th Congress of the European Vegetation Survey

The main topic for the 27th EVS Congress is “Vegetation survey 90 years after the publication of Braun-Blanquet’s textbook- new challenges and concepts”. The conference is going to take place in May, 23 – 26 and focus on several topics, such as: extending scale in spatial, temporal and environmental dimensions, plant community responses to changes in management, vegetation and alien plant invasions, assessment and conservation of European habitats, classification and database management.

14th International Congress of the European Association for Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology

The Congress will be held in June 24-27, 2018. 14th EAVPT Congress aims at bringing together both researchers and clinical practitioners in the field of veterinary pharmacology and toxicology as well as representatives of regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry. The motto: “One Health – Challenges and Innovations” reflects the urgent issues of the rapidly changing world and provides a proper background for the upcoming congress.

Age Difference And Social Solidarity: Managing Diversity In Aging Societies

In partnership with and hosted by the ‚Between Transnational Mobility and Locality’ Research Group, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, II Faculty of Psychology, Wrocław, Poland. During the conference that will take place between 9 – 10 July, 2018 such topics will be undertaken:

Intergenerational solidarity and social, political and cultural strategies – public, private and NGO – to develop solidarity across generations

Generational issues in balancing respecting differences and maintaining social cohesion in contemporary societies

Policy and practice differences in meeting the needs of older and younger age groups in the society, with attendant problems in policy areas such as health care, social welfare and pensions, labor and retirement regulation, equality legislation and policies against inequality, and civic and public provision

The possible choices in new initiatives, policies and demographic strategies in the management of generational diversity

Issues of social solidarity and multi-culturalism in pluralist societies – the challenges of age and fertility differences between migrants, diasporic communities and established population,

Global questions of age and generational change and economic and development change

Ethnic and cultural and institutional and kinship differences in understanding in managing ageing and elderly care

Ageing societies, Europe and crisis in the EU – the generational implications of migration and refugee crises (and Brexit/separatisms)

Ageing, generational change, critical pedagogy and the reconception of life-long learning in the life course

Viruses of Microbes 2018

The central theme of the workshops that will take place in July, 9 – 13 is ‘Biodiversity and future applications’ of viruses infecting microbes (algae, archaea, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses). Viruses have always been a key element of microbial diversity and evolution, as well as a tool for molecular biologists to learn more about how the host cell functions. This information has also been put to productive use more recently to control infections and fouling in many areas of our modern life. The conference talks are grouped into sessions covering key areas of ecology, host-virus dynamics, biotechnological, medical aspects, and structural biology. A main objective of this EMBO Workshop is to stimulate new understandings of the role that viruses of microbes play in ecosystems and in the sustainable development of human technologies.

12th International Conference on Cryocrystals and Quantum Crystals

Organized by Institute for Low Temperature and Structure Research Polish Academy of Sciences. The scope of CC is wide, including, but not limited to, films, nanoscale systems, charged species in cryocrystals, spectroscopy of cryocrystals, ultra-low temperature and high-pressure studies, matrix isolation in cryocrystals, ultrafast dynamics in crystals, order-disorder phenomena, technological applications and instrumentation. The present conference CC-2018 is a continuation of the series which started with meeting in Almaty (Alma-Ata) Kazakhstan. The general approach of the Conference aims at organizing a forum for exchange ideas on various aspects of physical, chemical and technological properties of solidified gases, and gathering together the best experts in the field. The conference will take place between 26 – 31 August, 2018.

ITSHC 2018 International Thermal Spraying and Hardfacing Conference

ITSHC 2018 conference will take place between 26 – 28 September. The aim of the conference is to present the latest researches and developments in the field of thermal spraying, as well as of hardfacing. Papers will be mainly dedicated to: new materials and technologies, properties of coatings and weld deposits, novel characterization methods as well as new industrial applications in different operating conditions. In addition, the problems concern training of specialists, quality and certification system at thermal spraying and hardfacing technologies will be discussed. The session dedicated to generative techniques (with particular emphasis on 3D printing) of metallic materials will be included since this year’s edition. The oral as well as poster sessions are planned. Detailed announcement: http://www.itshc.pwr.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ITSHC_Announcement_2.pdf

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05 Feb 2018

14th International Conference on Grammatical Inference

Organizers of 14th International Conference on Grammatical Inference invite all interested scholars to take part in the event, to be held on September 5 - 7, 2018 at the University of Science and Technology.

The 14th International Conference on Grammatical Inference is to be held in Wrocław, Poland, September 5 – 7, 2018

Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub as a platform of communication between local academic institutions and European academic society is passing the news about organized by Professor Olgierd Unold (Wroclaw University of Technology) conference on grammatical inference.

The Organizers of 14th International Conference on Grammatical Inference invite all interested scholars to take part in the event.

ICGI is a conference on all aspects of grammatical inference, including (but not limited to) theoretical and experimental analysis of different models of grammar induction, and algorithms for induction of different classes of languages and automata.
This year the conference will be held in a collocation with a cyclic conference organized by the Polish Bioinformatics Society (https://www.ptbi.org.pl/website/).

The conference focuses on grammatical inference: the field of machine learning applied to discrete combinatorial structures such as strings, trees or graphs. The conference seeks to provide a forum for presentation and discussion of original research papers on all aspects of grammatical inference including, but not limited to:

The lecture of Prof. Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski, Chair of Political Science, Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies, University of Wrocław - Europe Day 2017

Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Wrocław has a pleasure to invite you to a lecture of Prof. Dr. Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski, Chair of Political Science, Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies, University of Wrocław

Date

May 9, 2017, 12:00

Venue

University of Wrocław

Short outline of the lecture

The EU is facing a multitude of challenges including the rise of Eurosceptic populism, a number of crises and centrifugal tendencies. Scholars have argued for some time that strong collective identity might be a solution for communities in deep crisis. The lecture takes this as its point of departure and reflects on possibilities and limitations of the European identity. First, the lecture addresses the main issues of current research on European identity by focusing on the very concept of collective identity as well as on identity measurement. Second, drawing on nationalism research the lecture discusses main challenges to the “generating” of a supranational identity. Third, it explores specific identity “technologies” applied by the EU as well as their limitations. The lecture concludes with an assessment of how far and if at all a “nationalism-lite” of the EU can be successful.

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26 Apr 2017

The Mayor of Wrocław awarded with the German National Prize 2017

Rafał Dutkiewicz, the Mayor of Wrocław has been awarded with the German National Prize 2017 by the German National Foundation. On 3 June 2017 the official award ceremony will take place in Berlin.

Dirk Reimers, a German senator, emphasises Dutkiewicz’s contribution to development of multinationalism and tolerance in Wrocław and improvement of Polish-German relations. The German National Prize expresses the gratitude towards all the Poles who have the influence on positive relations of Poland and Germany in a united Europe.

Rafał Dutkiewicz has already been awarded with numerous prizes for development of Polish-German cooperation: in 2011 he was given the Polish-German Award for Special Merits for Development of Polish–German Relations, and in 2016 he received the Erich Kästner Prize for the engagement in creation of peaceful relations of multicultural Europe and development of Wrocław-Drezno partnership. In 2016 he received Diploma of the Ministry of International Affairs for ”the promotion of Poland abroad”, and in 2009 he was awarded with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for ”extraordinary merits for development of the municipal government”. Moreover, he is the Honorary Member of Academia Europaea.

One of the most significant initiatives of the Mayor is the Wrocław’s obtaining of the title of the European Capital of Culture in 2016. A part of it was the ”Culture Train” which connects Wrocław and Berlin, and the ”Pop up Pavillon”of the Institute of Goethe. A significant institution for the Polish-German cooperation is also the Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies – one of the most imprortant research institutes of Poland and Germany.

Moreover, new streets of Wrocław have been named with names of Wrocław architects: Heinrich Lauterbach, Ernst May, Hans Poelzig, Max Berg and Hans Scharoun. On Rafał Dutkiewicz’s initiative, the statue of a Polish Cardinal Bolesław Kominek (1903-1974) was exposed on the 40. anniversary of the Pastoral Letter of the Polish Bishops to their German Brothers. In 2015 the exhibition on Kominek was created.

The President of the Academia Europaea Sierd Cloetingh writes to Hungarian Prime Minister Orban expressing concern at proposed legislative impacts targeting the Central European University.

The President of the Academia Europaea Sierd Cloetingh writes to Hungarian Prime Minister Orban expressing concern at proposed legislative impacts targeting the Central European University

The President of the AE Sierd Cloetingh has today written to the Prime Minister of Hungary expressing concern at the likely negative impact of Hungarian legislation on the Central European University.

The AE strongly supports the concerns expressed by many other European and non-European academic institutions and national Academies and individual scholars who have all collectively condemned the proposed legislation that targets non-Hungarian University institutions based in Hungary.

Letter to Prime Minister Orban

A statement issued by the President of the Academia Europaea (AE) in response to the proposed legislative measures of the Government of Hungary that may affect the status, operations and even the continuation of foreign University institutions that have been established in Hungary, and that will notably impact negatively on the Central European University (CEU).

Sir,

the Academia Europaea is the Pan-European Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Letters. We enjoy a membership of over 3,800 elected scholars who collectively are representative of the leading thinkers and researchers across our entire continent. We are proud to have some 109 elected members who are based in Hungary, including a number from the CEU. This is a mark of the strength and of the quality that the higher education and research system of Hungary is held in by the international academic community.

The presence of institutions such as the Central European University, have become beacons of recognised international quality as both institutions and as educators of leading Hungarian and foreign students, researchers and scholars. Such students make real contributions to the overall added-value of Hungary’s investment in its highly educated human capital. The CEU and other such campuses, also make significant contributions to the collective strengths of Hungary’s traditionally excellent academic base, as seen from outside of Hungary itself and are also seen from the outside as integral to the Hungarian educational system.

Our express desire as the AE, is always to see excellence supported and academic collaborative endeavour promoted within all the countries of Europe. But, and in the context of the proposed legislation: we regretfully see the latest proposed development as a threat to this aspiration and discriminatory towards specific institutions. We therefore make a plea to the government of Hungary: please pause, and reflect on the possible long-term negative impacts that the proposed legislation may have on a leading centre for scientific excellence and world class scholarship. The presence of CEU is strongly beneficial to Hungary.

As an organisation of individual scholars, we value our Hungarian colleagues’ expertise and their international status and we urge the Government of Hungary to safeguard the present system of institutions for the future development of globally excellent scholars.

We are fully supportive of all of the many European and international individual academics, that have already expressed concern about the proposed legislative acts and we also agree with other academic institutions, including many European national academies (including the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and individual scholars that have also expressed their concerns regarding negative impacts of the proposed legislation.

We do remain confident that the Government of Hungary will find pragmatic solutions to address any existing administrative or legislative anomalies, without targeting individual institutions or putting at risk excellent science that flourishes in Hungary.

President of Academia Europaea, Professor Sierd Cloetingh and the Mayor of Wrocław, Rafał Dutkiewicz signed the official Framework Agreement for Continuation of Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub in Wrocław.

Framework Agreement for continuation of Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub in Wrocław signed

We are pleased to announce that on 7 March 2017 the President of Academia Europaea, Professor Sierd Cloetingh and the Mayor of Wrocław, Rafał Dutkiewicz signed the official Framework Agreement for Continuation of Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub in Wrocław. It will enable the implementation of the 2017-2018 program, that includes number of projects.

****

The Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub was opened in 2011 in the heart of the City Center (13, Market Square) as the first regional office of the Academia Europaea.

The main objective of this regional office is:

Mobilization and internationalization of the local academic institutions and universities,

Supporting Central and Eastern European scholars,

Establishment and consolidation of relations between foreign and local researchers,

Presentation of Wrocław’s dynamic scientific environment: local academic and research institutions,

Organisation and coordination of conferences, symposia, lectures and seminars.

We invite all the Members, who are interested in any of those events in particular to contact us – we will provide the necessary details and our local support.

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22 Oct 2016

Wetting and spreading in a physicist's practice

The lecture by Prof. J. O. Indekeu at the Wrocław University of Technology on Wetting and spreading in a physicist's practice.

Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub and Wrocław University of Technology invite students, academic teachers and citizens of Wrocław for a lecture by Prof. J. O. Indekeu on Wetting and spreading in a physicist’s practice.

Date

October 24, 2016, 11:15

Venue

Wrocław University of Technology, building A-1, room 322

Prof. Joseph Indekeu explains spin

Recorded during the Quantum Trinity Lecture for students of Applied Math at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland, 24 October 2016; Music by: Lisa Stańczak

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14 Oct 2016

The lecture by Peter Raspor for marking World Food Day 2016

Key note lecture by Peter Raspor: Environmental and demographic changes as challenge for life long learning in current society: Case food safety and security.

The lecture by Prof. Peter Raspor for marking World Food Day 2016 – Sunday, October 16th 2016

Key note lecture by Peter Raspor: Environmental and demographic changes as challenge for life long learning in current society: Case food safety and security.

The hottest issues regarding food nutrition and environment which need immediate reactions were exposed to in the lecture, were main elements clustered along following challenges: Safety/security Resources/Wastes Legislation/Standardization Research / development / innovation Education/Training Changes in agriculture, food production and food systems during the last five decades may be characterised by five megatrends that influence the way agriculture takes place and how it is integrated in society was analysed and few streams for improvements offered is we properly and critically analyse following questions:

1. Population growth – can we put healthy, sustainable food on our customers plates at affordable prices?
2. Confluence between dietary health and climate change
3. Can agricultural production keep pace with demand?
4. How do we make supply chains more efficient and eliminate waste?
5. Can retailers lead consumer behaviour change or is the market always the answer?
6. Is the supermarket business model sustainable or do we need to turn the food chain through 180 degrees?
7. Does food have political priority – a high enough to be respected?

Marking 47 year of World Food Days is needed, but not sufficient way to solve the problems round Climate change. If we would really do our best we could change Food and agriculture systems, but we need to change also consumers, not only producers, not to waste what is edible.

* By professor Peter Raspor, Dr.h.c.mult., Uni. dipl. eng.
Guest professor of Food Safety at The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, 2006-
Guest professor of Modern Bio-Technology in Food Production at University Vienna, 2008-
Guest professor of Food Quality and Safety at Faculty of Biosistemic Sciences at University of Maribor, 2009-
Guest professor of Food Safety at Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ljubljana, 2011-
Retired professor of Microbiology and Food safety from University of Primorska, 2014-2016
Retired professor of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology from University of Ljubljana, 1986-2013
Retired professor of Food Biotechnology from Budapest Corvinus University, 1994-2006.

Date

Friday, 14 October 2016, 13:00

Venue

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

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11 Oct 2016

MAE Peter Raspor visits Wrocław with a lecture

Academia Europaea invites students, academic teachers and citizens of Wrocław for a lecture lecture by Peter Raspor on "The Yeast: Challenge for Technologists and Microbiologists in Beer Production?"

Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub and Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences invite students, academic teachers and citizens of Wrocław for a lecture by Peter Raspor on The Yeast: Challenge for Technologists and Microbiologists in Beer Production?

Short outline of the lecture:

There are many varieties and strains of yeast. In the past, there was a division on two types of beer yeast: ale yeast (the „top-fermenting” type, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and lager yeast (the „bottom‐fermenting” type, Saccharomyces uvarum, formerly known as Saccharomyces carlsbergensis). Although the Saccharomyces species are still being reclassified, and both ale and lager yeast strains are constantly scrutinised to prove the difference, the beer production is constantly going on.

Since Cagniard de Latour demonstrated the biological background of yeast (1836), and Louis Pasteur proved that fermentation is caused by living organisms and asserted that the agents which are responsible for the reaction are connected with the yeast cell (1860), there have been many findings which helped the brewing and yeast industry to flourish and integrate many discoveries to structural innovations in processing. Today they can be perceived as revolutionary. One of them is the possibility to turn fermenters from horizontal to vertical position. Moreover, during the starter production we went from spontaneous fermentation to pure starter culture and also downstream processing of beer when we introduced filtration and pasteurization, just to mention some of them. Although the art of brewing is as old as Mesopotamian and Chinese cultures, the real industrial development had a significant influence on the beer, yeast and brewing in last two centuries. The Industrial Revolution is not without consequences to beer quality, safety and diversity of the beers we drink today. This spectrum of impacts is rather complex to address, but current challenges of technologists and microbiologists in beer production have to be taken up. There is still the need to answer many scientific and practical questions to go on with modernisation on one hand and to keep traditional beer heritage on the other. For humans, both aspects are important to be present and preserved for our descendants. Based on that, few issues are still waiting for scientific and innovative solutions:

just to name ten of the most challenging issues in beer research and beer practice. However, there are many other relevant issues which should be detected by researchers not only in life sciences and technology area, but also in social sciences and humanities, due to their consequences for human wellbeing and health.

Peter Raspor – Guest professor at The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, 2006‐ Guest professor at University Vienna, 2008‐ Guest professor at Faculty of Biosistemic Sciences at University of Maribor, 2009‐ Guest professor at Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ljubljana, 2011‐ Retired professor of Microbiology and Food safety from University of Primorska, 2014‐2016 Retired professor of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology from University of Ljubljana, 1986‐2013 Retired professor of Food Biotechnology from Budapest Corvinus University, 1994‐2006.

Fields of Scholarship

All aspects of food and beverage fermentation technology from point of view of biotechnology

Starter culture production for food biotechnology and food safety

Solid state cultivation and processing waste recycling

Food safety issues

Date

15 October, 2016

Venue

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Norwida 25, 50-375 Wrocław)

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22 Sep 2016

The Seminar “Central Europe and Colonialism"

The Wrocław Seminars is an initiative of Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, the University of Wrocław and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; it addresses mainly young researchers.

The Seminar “Central Europe and Colonialism: Migrations, Knowledges, Perspectives, Commodities” took place in the Institute of Romance Philology of the University of Wrocław. The Wrocław Seminars is an initiative of Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub, the University of Wrocław and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

The Seminar addresses mainly young researchers (before the doctoral defence or right after it) from Central and Eastern Europe and aims at relocating Central Europe in international humanities research. This is the third edition of the Seminar. It gathers together over 50 established and emerging scholars from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

The Mayor of Wrocław (the European Capital of Culture 2016) is seeking to select by competition the candidate for the post of the President of the Management Board of The EIT + Wrocław Research Centre.

The Mayor of Wrocław (the European Capital of Culture 2016) is seeking to select by competition the candidate for the post of the President of the Management Board of the EIT + Wrocław Research Centre

Wrocław Research Centre EIT+ is a research and development organization, focused on the development of innovations, new technologies and research for the needs of industry and modern economy and thematically subordinated strategies of smart specializations. It combines the features of an advanced technology park, thematic cluster, as well as research and development institute. www.eitplus.pl.

A Candidate seeking this appointment is in particular expected:

to hold a degree in science or a title in arts;

to have considerable academic achievements as a researcher, scientist and/or scholar in such areas as the development of science and innovative economy; to present evidence of his/her work relating to fundamental research, industrial research, or experimental development;

to have a proven track record in the managing of research and/or development projects with a focus on practical implementation;

to have several years of experience in managerial roles and leadership of large teams;

to have experience in collaborative projects involving academia and business as well as international cooperation;

to demonstrate expertise in the field of commercial companies;

to have professional experience of serving in different executive roles including finance, business law, consulting, and management in line with the Company’s profile.

Offers should be sent to the Organiser’s address at: Biuro Nadzoru Właścicielskiego, Sukiennice 10, piętro I, pok. 106, 50-107 Wrocław to be received by 15:45 on the 24 October 2016 at the above address.

Once established by the honorary board, the Academy has admitted its new members autonomously. Academy is 6 years old now and it has 36 members (ordinary and supporting). It is recognized in Wrocław and Poland as a body gathering young and ambitious people connected by their common passion for science and art.

The Academy of Young Scholars and Artists organizes regular seminar meetings, does publishing, organizes open lectures and conferences on various fields of science. The Academy, as an advisory body to the Mayor of Wrocław, initiates and participates in innovative projects promoting science and art (for example a project concerning a new subject in Wrocław’s schools The Language of Machines, the project BioLogic, logic-critical workshops Thorough Thinking or puppet animation workshops).

The Academy members create interdisciplinary research groups (for example psychiatry and computer science, biology and chemistry, fine arts and computer science, philosophy and mathematics) and they run research projects together. Academy’s discussions are as a rule shaped by a multitude of perspectives: they are explorations of unity of knowledge and unity of cognition.

The Academy of Young Scholars and Artists, since its establishment, has actively and effectively co-operated with Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub. This co-opeartion includes recent action, such as the co-organisation “The Excellent Science Days” workshop which took place in Wrocław between 5-6 November 2015. The aim of the workshops was to demonstrate how to write scientific papers and to publish them in prestigious periodicals like Nature. The members of the Academy of Young Scholars and Artists participated also in the ceremonies of the Academia Europaea 25th Annual Conference which took place on 16-19 September 2013 in Wrocław. The operations of the Wrocław AE Hub rely on the network of the local young Academy, proving the existence of a common ground for the pan-European and the regional agendas.

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30 Jul 2016

AE ANNOUNCES ELECTION OF NEW MEMBERS

At their meeting on 26 June, The Council of the Academia Europaea confirmed the election of new members to the four Classes of humanities; social and related sciences; exact sciences and life sciences.

At their meeting on 26 June, The Council of the Academia Europaea confirmed the election of new members to the four Classes of humanities; social and related sciences; exact sciences and life sciences.

Following an extensive peer evaluation process, a number of eminent international scholars from across the continent of Europe were invited to accept membership in 2016.
Download the list of new members (August 19, 2016)

Background

The Academia Europaea (formed in 1988) is the pan-European academy of science, humanities and letters, with a membership of over 3500 eminent scholars, drawn from all countries of Europe, and all disciplines, nationalities and geographical locations.

Full information on the Academia Europaea, its regional knowledge hubs and the Young Academy of Europe, together with information about all individual AE members, AE events and activity can be found at: http://www.ae-info.org

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22 Sep 2015

Elected members 2015

At a meeting held in Darmstadt on 6 September 2015, the Council of the Academia Europaea approved Class lists of 248 scholars to be invited to accept membership the Academia Europaea. Each new member received a personal invitation over the coming weeks.

The fourth annual meeting of the Young Academy of Europe took place on 7 September 2015 in Darmstadt, Germany. It was organized in conjunction with the Annual General Conference of the Academia Europaea (7 to 10 September).

All YAE members were invited to also attend the AE meeting and vice versa. A separate registration was required via the link.

According to the Academy‘s mission to “Promote a better understanding among the public at large of scientific and scholarly issues which affect society, its quality of life and its standards of living”, AE2015 were, in addition to invited keynote talks by distinguished researchers, offered parallel streams focussing on the knowledge exchange between disciplines – i.e. leading experts presented their field of research and demonstrate its relevance and (potential) impact to the world and to other research domains.

Academia Europaea 2015 took place in Darmstadt. It is located in Europe‘s center and can easily be reached by all means of transportation (e.g. within 30 mins by bus from Frankfurt Airport).

Academia Europaea invited you to Darmstadt, Germany, for the 27th Annual Conference under the motto “Symbiosis – Synergy of Humans & Technology”.

21st World Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association - CALL FOR PAPERS

The many languages of comparative literature

The comparison of literary texts from different cultural spheres and in different languages was at the origin of comparative literature. Even after comparatist paradigms have changed and developed, and after comparative criticism has expanded considerably, the crossing of borders between languages is still essential to the discipline.

For the first time, the theme of a congress organized by the International Comparative Literature Association were „language” – language in all its meanings and embedded in various contexts: as a „national” idiom, the basis of literary texts: as source-language and target-language in literary translation: as the set of languages forming „world literature” in its literary manifestation (and as the canon of languages that „world literature” is actually concentrating on). And language – both written and spoken – is not just the self-evident medium of all the objects of comparative literature, but also the indispensable meta-language of scientific discourse and literary terminology. The multilingualism of comparative literature is both a challenge and an opportunity: from its beginnings, the polymorphous diversity of world literature has constituted the attraction and wider reach of comparatist reading; on the other hand, even the most accomplished polyglot comparatist can master only a relatively small range of languages. This fact conditions the discourse more than might be apparent in a scholarly culture increasingly influenced by the English language.

The congress also focused on language in its broadest sense: the usage of language by social and ethnic groups as vectors of literature, the language of themes and discourses, language as a literary subject, language as the expression of central problems and ideas negotiated in the various literatures of the world, and even in its metaphorical sense, as „languages” of styles and forms. As an infinite code with constant need for decryption, the international sign system of literature perpetually reproduces the myth of the confusion of tongues and sets new tasks to multilingual humanity in coming to terms with literature and its criticism.

The volume brought together twelve texts devoted to Early Modern Print Culture in Central Europe. The idea behind it was to discuss the development and complexities inherent in the printing of books — an initially revolutionary way of building up international communication networks in this important region. An international group of researchers involved in the project took on board a wide array of subjects ranging from the first books printed at the end of the 15th century in Central Europe (the first printing press in the region was established in 1473 in Cracow, Poland), through the contacts between Western, Central and Eastern Europe thriving in the 16th and 17th centuries, to the books about newly emergent sciences in the 18th century. Bringing in their various interests and perspectives, the contributors illuminate the vast chronological scope and undeniable variety of print culture in Early Modern Central Europe.

2015 is the International Year of Light. To celebrate this, the YAE hosted a symposium co-organized by SciLifeLab and co-sponsored by the Academia Europaea and Uppsala University to celebrate the accomplishments of illuminating women in science.

The focus of the symposium were on gender issues facing women in science, both addressing the concerns of young scientists and also an examination of how these issues have developed over the past decades. Topics that were covered (amongst others) included the changing face of gender aspects in science and technology, the gendered aspect of excellence initiatives, a comparative analysis of gendered disciplines in universities, and personal accounts of pathways to excellence.

The Institute of Political Science (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wroclaw) invited you to VIII International Student Conference “Politics & Society in Central and Eastern Europe”, which took place in Wrocław on May 21, 2015.

The conference was designed to present the research results of international and Polish students, interested in current developments in Central and Eastern European politics and societies. The programme consisted of plenary and panel sessions.

The registration process started on March 17, 2015 and the deadline for proposals was April 12, 2015. In order to register, please send e-mail Michał Kuś (michal.kus@uni.wroc.pl) with the following information: participant(s) name(s), title and affiliation, the title of presentation and short abstract (up to 200 words).

Important deadlines:

March 17, 2015 – the start of the registration process

April 12, 2015 – the end of the registration process

April 15, 2015 – the notification of acceptance + the programme of the conference will be released

The 1990s brought with them a “memory boom” that has made of memory a central concern in contemporary culture and politics at a global scale. Important contributing factors have been, among others, the debates surrounding False Memory Syndrome; developments in the academic fields of Holocaust Studies and Postcolonial Studies; the spread of public historical consciousness; and the evolving dynamics of reparation politics and justice. As Jay Winter points out, the many and various sources of the contemporary obsession with memory “arise out of a multiplicity of social, cultural, medical, and economic trends and developments of an eclectic but intersecting nature” (2007). The effect of these intersections, as Winter explains, has been multiplicative. However, they have also made for friction areas, sites of clash, controversy, contradiction and questioning, like those discussed in what follows.

Pierre Nora provocatively stated in Le lieux de mémoire (1984) that “Whoever says memory, says Shoah”. There is no denying the centrality of the Holocaust in the context of Memory Studies, a centrality that has been criticised, in turn, by scholars like Harold Schulweis and Jacob Neusner, to name but two. Setting themselves against those who have claimed it to be a “unique” event in world history, some writers and critics have used the Shoah to deal with other collective memories of mass violence and oppression, while still others find this a most contentious move. In a context marked by a Levinasian ethics of openness to the Other, one further area of conflict —recently addressed by critics like Erin McGlothlin, Jenni Adams and Sue Vice— has been the advisability and possibility of the artistic (and literary) representation of the perpetrator figure. Moreover, if one broadens the focus from the Holocaust to the field of Trauma Studies and its contribution to the “memory boom”, it becomes apparent that the representation of trauma in literature and the way in which it has been theorised have also become a site of controversy. Thus, critics like Roger Luckhurst (2008) and Alan Gibbs (2014) argue against the way in which contemporary literature has reified elements of dominant trauma theory into an often prescriptive aesthetic that privileges difficulty and aporia. In which different ways do some texts and writers resist this trauma aesthetic? Do certain approaches to the issue of traumatic memories run the risk of traumatophilia? How do areas of research like Resilience Theory and the Theory of Affects offer alternative strategies to deal with personal and collective grief/conflict and their literary representation?

Memories of suffering and loss can provide a link between cultures, especially at a time marked by multiculturalism and the aftermath of decolonisation processes. But can the theoretical frames most of us are familiar with break free of the Eurocentric origins of their foundational texts? Even if empathy is needed to build bridges between selves and cultures, how are we to avoid falling, and how often do scholars fall, into what Bertolt Brecht termed “crude empathy” (1964), that is, a feeling for another based on the assimilation of the other’s experience to the self? How does the rising concern with memory interact with the politics of difference —focused on the recognition and empowerment of minorities— and with the politics of reconciliation —focused on reparation, truth-telling and healing? How are these parallel political and intellectual movements reflected in literature? Which conflict areas in the said movements call for an in-depth analysis that can be carried out, among other means, by resorting to (the study of) literary representation? Does the growing interest in restorative justice, healing and reconciliation suggest, as Anne Whitehead points out, that “a discursive shift is beginning to take place from memory to forgetting” (2009)?

We are interested in moving forward critical research in these and related subjects. Contributions are invited that focus on friction areas related to memory and its literary representation, and that bring fresh perspectives which can be added to/set against previous developments in the field. Proposals should deal with contemporary narratives in English from 1990 to the present. Suggested topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:

Memory f(r)ictions: false memories, designs of the present on the past, questioning the criteria for establishing evidence of past acts and the relationship of memory to experience.

Alternative strategies to represent and negotiate suffering: leaving behind the Western trauma paradigm

Contesting the disabling effects of a culture of victimisation. The potential of affects, adaptation and resilience.

The (im)possibility of forgiveness and forgetting

Connecting memories: the productivity of cross-cultural and multidirectional links vs. the dangers of appropriation and misrepresentation.

Spatial and temporal vectors of memory: memory landscapes, sites of memory, commemoration, the saturation of the present with the past, future-oriented memory.

Memory and identity politics: constructing victims and perpetrators

The politics of remembering and forgetting; the politisation of suffering; political and institutional misappropriations of traumatic events and victims; the need and pitfalls of reparation politics and reconciliation discourse.

Teaching conflictive memories: educational challenges and approaches

Abstracts between 400-500 words should have been sent to memoryfrictions2015@gmail.com by 1 December 2014. Author information was provided on a separate sheet, including name, affiliation, contact address, paper title and author’s bio-note.

Recordings of the Literary Margins and Digital Media conference sessions

You are welcome to have a look at the recordings of the Literary Margins and Digital Media conference sessions. The conference was held at the Faculty of Philology, Wroclaw University, on 15-17 April, 2015.

The meeting of regional Members of Academia Europaea was held on the 19th of March 2015 in Wrocław. The aim of this meeting was to discuss the future of Academia Europaea and its further activities.

The main point of the agenda was the official signing of the agreement between the city of Wrocław, represented by the Vice President Adam Grehl, and Academia Europaea, represented by the President of AE Sierd Cloetingh.

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31 Mar 2015

The second podcast of Literary Margins and Digital Media - Michael Joyce interview

The future of literature, modernism, Polish emigrants, and why it is worth putting the music of words above their meaning – Michael Joyce, poet and writer, discussed these issues in the second podcast of the Wrocław Seminar.

Michael Joyce is a pioneer of electronic literature and the author of afternoon. a story (1987) and Twilight, a symphony (1996), which is currently being translated into Polish by Ha!art corporation. The writer was the guest of the Wrocław SeminarLiterary Margins and Digital Media, which began on the 15th of April 2015.

In the first part of the podcast, Michael Joyce and Mariusz Pisarski analysed the problem of the center and the margins. They also tried to summarise Joyce’s literary output in the context of modernism and postmodernism. Finally, they discussed the prototypes of Polish heroes which can be found in Twilight, a symphony.

In the second part, in response to Mikołaj Spodaryk’s questions, Joyce directed us to reflections about death and strong family relationships. Secondly, he refered to immortality of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music, and finally, they talked about translatology. As it turned out, for the author, who continues the tradition of ultra-modernism, avant gard, and literary experiment, recapturing the language melody in translation is more important than adhering only to the meaning.

The interview with the writer was the second podcast from the series of ‘Techsty’ ,related to the Wrocław Seminar. In the first podcast we talked to Zuzana Husárova i Ľubomír Panák. In the third one we will talk to organizers of the Wrocław Seminar.
The podcast is available here.

We invited you to the meeting with Michael Joyce, Zuzana Husárová and L’ubomír Panák, new media artists who visited Wroclaw in April to participate in the Literary Margins and Digital Media conference, organised by Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Wrocław and the Faculty of Philology, Wrocław University.

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15th of April 2015, Wednesday, 18:00-19:30

Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Strzegomski Square 2a, Wrocław

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Host: Mariusz Pisarski

The language of the meeting: English (no translation)

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Michael Joyce and Zuzana Husárová are authors of different generations, different cultures and aesthetics, and yet there is a strong common trait in the works of both of them: it is based on revealing the archetypes of literary communication in a hybrid, post-medial landscape of genres and communicative roles. Both authors started their adventure with new media in a classic, remediating gesture, where the traits of one medium— a relevant stability of words and unidirectional, authorial message— strongly influence the digital outcome. Yet soon, as it turns out, being a writer in new media forces one to depart from the notion of the word as a single carrier of artistic expression. The word becomes something more: an expression in the original meaning of the term, a unit of discourse which can contain movement, image, sound and interaction within the programmable framework agreement of situating the body in the centre of it.

The meeting with Michael Joyce and Zuzana Husárová attempted to outline the history of relations between literature and new media, to ask questions about the future, and to define „marginality” and the very position between the centre and its surroundings.

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Michael Joyce (the USA) is the author of the first hypertext novel, afternoon. a story (1987), translated into Polish by Radosław Nowakowski and Mariusz Pisarski, and published by Ha!art corporation. Joyce is the icon of electronic literature, yet every now and again he returns to traditional novels. During the meeting he talked about his most recent book, Foucault, in Winter, in the Linnaeus Garden (2015).

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Zuzana Husárová and L’ubomír Panák, a duet of artists from Slovakia, have cooperated with each other for many years working on the realization of artistic projects with the use of digital technology. In the podcast related to the LMDM conference, the artists are discussing the poetic aspect of new media. At the meeting in Wrocław Contemporary Museum, the artists presented one of their digital-poetic performances.

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20 Mar 2015

Jerzy Duszyński elected as the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences

On the 19th of March Professor Jerzy Duszyński was elected as the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) is a Polish state learning institution established in 1952 which is composed of both national and foreign members. Its functioning is based on elected corporation of top scholars and research institutions. The main aims of PAN are to develop, promote, integrate, and popularize the science, and to contribute to the development of education.

Jerzy Duszyński is a current member of IRB Barcelona’s Board of Trustees and head of the Laboratory of the Bioenergetics and Biomembranes at the Nencki Institute. In 2008-2009 he was Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Donald Tusk’s government. Prof. Duszyński is an expert in the field of energy metabolism and molecular basis of mitochondrial diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.

Read more here about nomination for the position and here about his laboratory.

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20 Mar 2015

Professor Jerzy Langer (MAE) elected as a leader of the FETAG

On the 20th of March 2015 professor Jerzy Marian Langer, president of Wroclaw Research Center EIT+ and professor at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, was elected to lead the FETAG, a group of 26 consultants for the FET Programme(Future and Emerging Technologies).

The FET is the biggest research programme within the Horizon 2020 Programme. It finances scientific research which aims at the discovery of breakthrough future technologies. Moreover, it finances a variety of interdisciplinary projects which combine different scientific fields (physics, IT, biology, environmental science, social sciences, and humanities) and advanced engineering disciplines. The reason for conducting interdisciplinary projects is to come up with original solutions to be implemented in creating new technologies. The main objective of FETAG is to become the leading EU programme supporting advanced applied research.

This election is an honour for professor Langer, who has a rich experience with working for the most prominent advisory bodies of the European Commission. Professor Langer also contributed to the establishment of the current FET Programme.

The interview with keynote speaker of the Seminar Literary Margins and Digital Media

The poetry of space, sound, and installation; opportunities which e-literature offers to young audiences; technologies available to the modern poet and the cooperation in an artistic duet – we were discussing these issues with Zuzana Husárova and Ľubomír Panák in our first podcast related to the seminar Literary Margins and Digital Media .

Zuzana and Ľubomír a contributed to the seminar by presenting one of their poetic and audio installations that engage both body and speech. Zuzana Husárova , accompanied by Bogumiła Suwara and Gabriela Magová , with whom she was working within the ‘Hypermedia Artefact’ grant, also gave a paper during the academic part of the event.

The interview with Zuzana Husárova and Ľubomír Panák was conducted by Mariusz Pisarski. In the following podcasts we talked to Michael Joyce, internationally recognized author and critic of electronic literature, and the organizers of the Wrocław seminar.

The background music for the podcast was based on ‘Angel Academy’ by Matt Oukley, which was available on FreeMusicArchive.

For students of the last year of liberal arts, under the age of 25, who prepare master (diploma) theses on history and current affairs of the Eastern and Central Europe in the broad meaning of the field from the scope of contemporary history of Central an Eastern Europe (history, political science, international relations, sociology, culture, ethnology, geography, law, economics).

Participants of the school came from Eastern Europe, Balkans, Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus as well as students from Poland and EU countries.

Applications and documents should have been sent by e-mail till 20 January 2015. In case of any questions, please email: wsl.studium@uw.edu.pl

Sierd Cloetingh appointed new Vice President of the European Research Council

Press release by the European Research Council New Vice Presidents and members of the ERC Scientific Council
17 February 2015

Professors Sierd Cloetingh and Mart Saarma have been appointed new Vice Presidents of the European Research Council. This news was coupled with the European Commission’s appointment today of three new members of the Scientific Council.

Sierd Cloetingh, who also serves as a President of Academia Europaea, is a Dutch professor of Earth Sciences and Tectonics at the Utrecht University. He will be in charge of supervision of the ERC activities in the domain of Physical Science and Engineering. Mart Saarma, an Estonian national, is a professor and a director of the Centre of Excellence in Molecular and Integrated Neuroscience Research at the University of Helsinki. He will take over the Life Sciences domain. Both were already serving as ERC Scientific Council members (Sierd Cloetingh since 2009; Mart Saarma since 2011).

ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon said: „I very much look forward to working closely with the two new Vice Presidents, elected by the ERC Scientific Council. One of the key tasks of the Vice Presidents is supervising the selection of the peer review panels, which lies at the heart of the ERC.”

These appointments come after the term of office of the former Vice Presidents, Professors Pavel Exner (Doppler Institute for Mathematical Physics and Applied Mathematics,CZ) and Carl-Henrik Heldin (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, SE) came to an end in December 2014. Prof. Núria Sebastián Gallés (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, ES) will remain ERC Vice President in the domain of Social Sciences and Humanities. The Vice Presidents are elected by the members of the ERC Scientific Council, in accordance with its autonomy.
At the same time, the European Commission appointed today three new ERC Scientific Council members:

Prof. Tomáŝ Jungwirth (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ, and University of Nottingham, UK)

Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas said: „The European Commission places great importance on appointing accomplished, top-level scientists to the Scientific Council, the governing body of the European Research Council. The independent committee tasked with identifying new members has done an excellent job as demonstrated by the calibre of today’s three nominations.”

President Bourguignon added: „I would like to warmly welcome three new members of the Scientific Council, who will have the challenge of living up to the standards set by their predecessors. With their engagement, I’m sure they will offer new perspectives at a critical time.”

These new members have been selected by an independent Identification Committee, composed of six distinguished scientists appointed by the European Commission. The scientific community was consulted in this process. The Committee will announce further new members in the first half of the year.

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01 Jan 2015

2015 AE Hubert Curien Initiatives Fund - 1st OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Board of trustees are pleased to announce the launch of the 2015 new initiatives fund.

Objective of the fund

The purpose of the fund is to enable members and Sections to undertake projects and activities that benefit the academic community and increase the visibility, presence and impact of the Academia Europaea. The awards are limit to a maximum of 5K Euros per proposal and therefore the expectation is that the funding will be used to lever additional external support or link AE activity into larger projects and initiatives. Meetings of Section Committees are not per se eligible for funding. The emphasis will be on activity that enhances inter and cross disciplinary dialogue and networking across boundaries.

The following conditions apply to the award of grants:

That the budget for 2015 is initially set at a maximum of 20K EUROS (subject to review mid year)

That there is no restriction of scope or type of initiative proposed (workshops, regional meetings of Members; participation in international events (as speakers or for dedicated AE sessions), except that funds cannot be used only to support meetings of Section committees.

That all initiatives MUST be organised with the support and cooperation of one of the Hub offices (although the actual events do not have to physically take place at a Hub location),

That any initiative should preferably involve at least two Sections or members drawn from across more than one section (including where possible YAE members) and must be in collaboration with other organisations, including seeking other financial partners, or linked into large international events.

That proposals must be channelled through Section committees and submitted with their explicit support.

That awards must be reported and publicised in AE newsletters and on the AE web and in the case of events, that the AE logo and weblinks are included into any official documentation. Co-sponsored events should have links from the AE Hub, YAE and AE Corporate websites as necessary.

Proposals from the YAE will be accepted and are encouraged.

There will be a maximum AE contribution of 5K Euros, per initiative, for the first call (subject to review).

Application process

Proposer(s) may submit a brief (maximum two pages) proposal (freeform text) describing the project or activity in enough detail to allow a simple “review”. A lead proposer (who must be a member of the AE or YAE) must be identified. He/she will be designated as the grantholder for the purposes of accountability and reporting. Decisions will be taken based on a simple review and allocated on a first come first served basis. Proposers should allow four weeks between submission and final decision. Proposals should be submitted by email to the Executive Secretary David Coates at Execsec@acadeuro.org till 31 May 2015.

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12 Dec 2014

"Central Europe and Colonialism" organising committee meeting

The organising committee for the conference on „Central Europe and Colonialism” met on 12 December for the first time.

The conference covered three themes: migration from Central Europe to the colonies, the genesis of scientific and scholarly discourses that developed in Central Europe in relationship to the colonial world and the application of insights from (post)colonial studies to the study of history and culture of Central Europe.

The conference was planned for September 2016.

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27 Nov 2014

Barcelona Knowledge Hub invites for Disputatio 2014

The Barcelona Knowledge Hub, together with the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM), organised a modern-day Disputatio devoted to “The Mediterranean, bridge of cultures”, with the participation of Leila Simona Talani and Enric Banda, who presented their views on this topic.

On 17 November, 2014; the Board met for the first formal meeting under the new President of the Academia Europaea – Prof. Dr. Sierd Cloetingh.

The meeting took place at the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences building in London. The main discussions were on finalisation of changes to the nominations (of new members) and Sections’ governance structures; finalisation of the details for the 2015 New Initiatives Fund scheme and plans for the 2015 Annual conference and future Hub programmes of activity.

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09 Oct 2014

Regimes of Memory II. Types of trauma management in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 was awarded with one half jointly to two members of the Academy, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser, and the other half to John O’Keefe, „for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”.

Professor Anne Buttimer (University College Dublin) was awarded, on October 5, 2014, the prestigious Vautrin Lud Prize in Geography, considered as the „Nobel” of geography, during the International Festival of Geography in Saint Dié des Vosges (France).

The Prize is awarded by an international jury, following the procedure of the Nobel Prizes, choosing the laureate among nominees from all over the world for their life time achievements in geography. Without doubt Dr Buttimer is a geographer whose name is at the top of any list based on dedication, service, productivity and perseverance in the name of the geographic profession. In addition to being a stellar research scholar she has served the field in a number of capacities, as the President of the International Geographical Union (IGU) 2000-2004 and most recently (2014) as Vice-President of Academia Europaea (the first geographer to be elected to this position).

Her distinguished career reflects major achievements in all three of those areas (research, teaching and service) which are recognized as constituting the role and duty of academic scholars. In addition, her special linguistic abilities combined with her intellectual talents place her at the forefront in international geographical activities; a fact attested to, when, on January 27, 2012 she became the first woman and first human scientist to be awarded an honorary doctorate in Grenoble, France. In April 2014 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Honors of the Association of American Geographers.

The importance of her research is reflected in the fact that she has published 13 books, 14 book chapters (since 2000) and dozens of peer reviewed articles that have been printed in more than ten languages and that she has lectured (including many keynote addresses) on all of the world’s continents.

At the annual business meeting in Barcelona, Sierd Cloetingh, at that point AE Vice-president along with Ann Buttimer, was elected the new AE President (President of the Board).

Professor Cloetingh gave a short presentation at both the AGM and at the conclusion of the main conference programme in which he outlined some of his priorities for the coming three years. Professor Cloetingh thanked the outgoing President (Lars Walløe) for his six years of stewardship of the Academia Europaea and in particular, thanked him for the substantial efforts in ensuring the better financial stability and the creation of three new regional hubs (Wroclaw, Poland; Barcelona, Spain and Bergen, Norway) that will form the basis for future developments within the AE community. Prof Cloetingh also thanked Prof. Walloe for enabling, together with Prof. Hermann Maurer, the creation of a major new membership web and data hub at the Technical University of Graz”.

A press release has been issued on 17 July 2014. Download the document.

Statement by the President of the Academia Europaea you can find here.

The Academy thanks the outgoing president Lars Walløe and welcomes the new president Sierd Cloetingh.

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01 Aug 2014

26th Annual Conference - Event summary

On July 16th to 18th 2014 the Barcelona Knowledge Hub hosted the 26th Annual Conference of the Academia Europaea. The event took place at the CosmoCaixa science museum and at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans in Barcelona and gathered scientists from various academic fields, from around Europe and the world.

The three-day event entitled “Young Europe: realities, dilemmas and opportunities for the new generation” explored key medical, social and environmental challenges that Europe will face in the near future. The Conference featured 20 speakers who engaged with the audience in fruitful discussions and scientific interaction.

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01 Aug 2014

Student Internships Opportunity

Academia Europaea is a non-governmental association acting as an Academy which brings together researchers and scholars from various fields in an effort to seek and spread knowledge, science and research. Academia Europaea consists of more than three thousand members, which include Nobel laureates and winners of the prestigious Turing Award. It also works with leading experts in the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and legal studies.

For the first time since its formation in 2012, two Polish scientists were elected to the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).

Dr Filip Granek graduated with honors Electrical Engineering at Wroclaw University of Technology in 2004. Between 2004-2011 he worked for over 8 years abroad, first at the Energy Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) in Petten, the Netherlands and later at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany. He completed his PhD thesis at the University of Freiburg in the field of the advanced silicon solar cell concepts in 2009. Between 2009 and 2011 he was the head of the research group at Fraunhofer ISE focusing on the novel laser processes for the manufacturing of the silicon solar cells. Since late 2011 he is leading the Printed Electronics Laboratory at Wroclaw Research Centre EIT+. He is author and inventor with over 50 scientific publications and 10 international patents or patent applications. His scientific interest include the novel solar cell concepts and the technology and characterization of the printed electronics devices.

Dr Artur Bednarkiewicz obtained his M. Eng. degree in physics and biomedical engineering in 1998 at the Wrocław University of Technology, and his Ph.D. and habilitation in physics in the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research (INTiBS) of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2003 and 2013, respectively. After the postdoctoral fellowship in the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy (2005-2009) he initiated the NAOMIS group in Wroclaw Research Centre EIT+. The group focuses on the applications of luminescence nanoparticles to bioimaging and biodetection (Nanoparticle Assisted Molecular Imaging and Sensing).

Academia Europaea and The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław declared their intention to initiate mutual cooperation in the didactic, scholarly and promotional areas.

Cooperation was executed in the form of mutually agreed upon activities such as:

the joint organization of scholarly conferences, seminars and summer schools,

the sharing of experiences related to education and the adjustment of curricula to the requirements of the labour market, and

the fostering of contacts between Wrocław academic community and the members of the Academia Europaea.

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12 Jun 2014

New promotional video of the Barcelona Knowledge Hub

A promotional video about the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea and its 26th Annual Conference has been released. It is a three-minute length video where Genoveva Marti, the Academic Director, talks about the aim and mission of the Barcelona Knowledge Hub and the organisation of the 26th Annual Conference that will be held in the city, on the 16-18 of July this year.

Watch the video below:

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30 May 2014

Inauguration of the Academia Europaea’s Bergen Knowledge Hub

The Bergen Hub has been established through a joint agreement between the Academia Europaea and the regional partners (Hordaland County, City of Bergen, University of Bergen and the Norwegian school of economics- NHH) coordinated by Business Region Bergen (BRB).

The Bergen Hub had its Constitutional meeting 23 January 2014, and has had since three monthly meetings for the elected body BHAG (Bergen Hub Advisory Group). The Hub’s Academic Director (AD, Jan S. Vaagen) and Secretary (Vidar Totland, BRB) have monthly preparatory meetings with the Bergen Hub Chair (BHC) (UiB Rector Dag Rune Olsen, MAE).

The Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Region Bergen will provide the national academies of science and letters in Norway with a European partner in Bergen. The focus of Academia Europaea’s hub in Bergen will be resources and expertise relating to the ‘Northern seas’ – Europe’s northern dimension.

The University of Bergen, the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), the City of Bergen and Hordaland County Authority are behind the establishment of the new knowledge hub Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Region Bergen. Academia Europaea will focus in particular on knowledge relating to energy, seafood, maritime transport, international relations and resource issues in ocean areas in Northern Europe, including the Arctic. The region has thereby been assigned a European task that can also prove useful in relation to the Bergen region’s priority industries in future.

Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Region Bergen is based on a Nordic model with European affiliation, and relations have already been established with Bergen’s twin towns – Århus and Gothenburg – which will be key partners. The universities in these two cities have a good tradition of linking up with businesses that represent the priority industries in their respective regions, such as Maersk in Århus and Volvo and Ericsson in Gothenburg. Funds have been built up around these institutions that form the basis for investment in long-term research. Knowledge Hub Region Bergen will provide opportunities for collaboration through projects to which these institutions will also contribute.

Inauguration ceremony: Frøystein Gjesdal, Rector at the Norwegian School of Economic, Helge Stormoen, Commissioner City of Bergen, Lars Walløe, President of Academia Europaea, Ole Hope, CEO Business Region Bergen), and Dag Rune Olsen, Rector at the University of Bergen (l.t.r.)

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31 Mar 2014

2014 Annual Conference Website

The website for the 26th Annual Conference of the Academia Europaea, to be held in Barcelona on 16–18 July 2014, was available at www.ae2014barcelona.com.

Young Europe: realities, dilemmas and opportunities for the new generation was a multidisciplinary forum on the health, social and environmental challenges that our society will have to address in the coming years.

The website contained information on the programme, speakers, dates and venues.The website also featured updated information about accommodation in Barcelona, the conference gala dinner and a field trip to the Salt Mines in Cardona.

The Young Academy of Europe was formally established at a constitutive annual meeting held in Brussels on 7/8 December 2012, ant it was a pan-European independent initiative of outstanding young scientists who wished to create a platform for networking, scientific exchange and science policy.

More information on the Young Academy of Europe can be found on the website.

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24 Mar 2014

Cooperation Agreement with Wrocław University of Technology

At the end of March 2014 Academia Europaea signed bilateral agreement with Wrocław University of Technology. Both parties of the agreement decided to commit to the development and maintenance of long-term cooperation in the areas of higher/further education, science and promotion of scholarships.

Cooperation between the parties was executed through programs of mutually agreed activities: co-organisation of international scientific conferences, seminars and summer schools, exchange of experiences in the field of education and training programs to adapt to the needs of the labour market, internationalisation of scholars from Wrocław with Academia Europaea members and the development of other forms of cooperation agreed upon by the parties.

Academia Europaea celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, but its impact on research politics is not what it could be. Rebecca Hillspoke to the academy’s board members about their plans to boost its profile.

In 1988, six European academics, backed by the UK’s Royal Society, founded Academia Europaea, a nongovernmental association aimed at uniting Europe’s best researchers, scholars and scientists. The idea was to create a Pan-European voice on science and policy issues, separate from the EU member states’ national academies.

Today, despite having nearly 3,000 members and its sights set on 2,000 more, the academy could, according to its board members, do much more.

“I don’t think Academia Europaea is as effective as it could be at commenting on research policy issues,” says vice-president Anne Buttimer, a geographer at University College Dublin. “It should be able to speak for Europe as a whole, but it’s not doing that at the moment; it’s still finding its way.”

Foreign secretary and Polish physicist Jerzy Langer notes that the academy responds to specific public policy issues through the European Academies Science Advisory Council, of which it is a founding member. But the academy is “qualified to address serious research policy matters” separately, and needs to do more to gain visibility in Europe, he says.

President Lars Walløe, a physiologist at the University of Oslo, will soon step down, with elections for his successor taking place in May. He says one of Academia Europaea’s biggest assets is having members from the humanities and social sciences as well as the natural sciences. “There are more problems faced by the social sciences and humanities,” he says. “We need to take a much more active approach in that field.”

With that in mind, Academia Europaea is in talks with Allea, the All European Academies group, and Easac, which only deals with natural science, to develop a similar body to Easac for the humanities and social sciences. This would involve an independent panel looking at the same issues as Easac but from a humanities and social sciences perspective. The two groups would then meet to discuss their findings. “A group focusing on these disciplines doesn’t exist in Europe and it’s a real gap,” says David Coates, executive secretary of Academia Europaea. “We hope we’ll get something in place this year.”

Meanwhile, Buttimer would like to see Brussels being more sensitive to differences in political culture in the 28 member states. She hopes the academy can encourage discussions about regional differences through its knowledge hubs, which were launched two years ago to spread its activities across Europe.

The hubs are in Wrocław, Poland, and Barcelona, Spain. A third is scheduled to open in Bergen, Norway, by May. Each focuses on issues specific to its region, with the Barcelona base set to be the academy’s humanities hub as part of the push to support the discipline.

The academy aims to promote itself more effectively across Europe and encourage more nominations for eastern European members. Membership is particularly low in eastern countries, with nearly half of all members based in the UK, Germany and France. This is partly because the western countries have a longer research tradition, with more researchers eligible for membership. Additionally, prospective members must be nominated by two existing members. This poses a problem for eastern academics, who may not be as well known outside their country and are reliant on an already underrepresented group to nominate them.

Another goal for Academia Europaea is to spread the costs of its work more evenly. The hubs are paid for with regional or national funds, which Coates says are of particular importance to offset a “very substantial” fall in core funding from organisations such as the Royal Society since the start of the economic crisis. The drop in core funding hasn’t affected money for events, conferences and workshops. This has always been sought on an ad hoc, project-specific basis, he says. But the academy has had to make other savings, for example by paring down the staff in its London office.

Academia Europaea brings in cash from membership, but the annual membership payment of €100 is not compulsory. This decision was influenced by differing attitudes across Europe, says Ole Petersen, chairman of the nominations committee and a biologist at Cardiff University. “There isn’t the tradition of paying subscriptions in continental Europe, which was a problem initially,” he explains. “But it’s not possible to sustain the academy without it, as we have always said we don’t want to be completely tied to the EU. Unlike for the national academies, there is no government to support us.” Something to add? Email comment@ ResearchResearch.com

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17 Jan 2014

2013 Annual Conference Wroclaw - Video

Watch the video from the Annual Plenary Conference of the Academy in Wroclaw, September 2013.

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13 Jan 2014

Summary of the second year of the Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub in Wroclaw (January 2013 - December 2013)

The Wrocław Hub has now been fully active for over two years, with a full time staff and a few students from the University of Wrocław as interns. 2013 was a very busy year for the Hub. In 2013 we arranged a number of wide scope high quality international activities. These included: organization of three lectures, first seminar about Early Modern Print Culture in Europe and 25th Annual Conference of Academia Europaea. Also, we officially launched a promotion movie (which was produced in 2012), and produced a Planner Guide of Wrocław. During 2013 we also supported All European Academies (ALLEA) and the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).

25th Annual AE Conference

On 16-19 September 2013 the annual anniversary, international academic conference, titled „European Science and scholarship looking ahead – challenges of the next 25 years‟ was held in Wroclaw. 2013 marked a key anniversary – as it was the 25th annual conference of the Academia Europaea. The event brought together approximately three hundred and fifty scholars; two of who were Noble Prize laureates, as well as laureates of other major international academic awards (for example: Lasker Award, Turing Award, Abel Award or Gödel Prize).

The conference program was designed to create a platform for opinion exchange for the significant European scholars representing all academic fields. The discussions concerned the condition of contemporary science and education, as well as attempted to clarify key topics and European science agenda challenges that are to be tackled in the future. The possibility of establishing sustainable research programs was also being discussed. The conference itself as well as the European and Polish scholars’ ‘elite’ contribution presented a unique opportunity for science promotion within the Polish scientific environment. Furthermore, it was a special chance to introduce the distinguished personas of the Polish scientific community on an international arena and to demonstrate that the future success of Poland and development of science are strongly interconnected, particularly among the younger generation of scholars.

The conference gathered more than 350 participants, with approximately one third coming from within Poland. The lectures were held by internationally renowned scientists, such as Nobel Prize winners: Robert Huber (chemistry) and Bert Sakmann (Physiology or Medicine), laureates of the Gödel Prize: Moshe Y. Vardi, T. Kibble – co-discoverers of the „God particle‟, Martin Rees – astronomer, Salvatore Settis –Italian archeologist; laureate of the Gambrinus-Mazzotti Award, Jonathan Israel – notable historian of the Age of Enlightenment, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber–leading figure in global climate change research, Helga Nowotny – sociologist, Head of the European Research Council, Anne Glover – main scientific adviser to the European Commission, two distinguished scholars from Poland – sociologist Piotr Sztompka and physicist Tomasz Dietl, and last but not least Norman Davies – one of the most renowned historians of our days – laureate of this year`s ‘Erasmus Medal’, the highest scientific distinction of the Academia Europaea.

During the official Opening Ceremony, the diplomas were handed over to 10 outstanding young Polish scholars who received the2013 Burgen Scholarships of the AE. The awardees had an opportunity to say a few words of introduction and share their lists of accomplishments with invited guests during the Gala Dinner. The Mayor of Wroclaw, Rafał Dutkiewicz, and the President of Academia Europaea, Lars Walloe, greeted honorable guests at the Town Hall during the Welcome Reception. The Official Gala took place at the Wroclaw Congress Center the following day. During the dinner, the Burgen Scholars, as well as AE President Lars Walloe, First AE President, Sir Arnold Burgen, and the representative of the French Academy of Sciences, Prof. Yvon Le Maho and representative of the Royal Society of London – ProfessorLord Rees of Ludlow (former President of the Royal Society), delivered their speeches of congratulation to the AE. The Wroclaw multimedia fountain display was a highlight of the evening.

The substantive part of the conference was prepared by AE Program Committee members. All the logistics was smoothly taken care of by the team of Academia Europaea Wroclaw Knowledge Hub, kindly assisted by the Convention Bureau – Wroclaw (working on behalf of the City of Wroclaw) and the Head office of the AE in London.

Additional events and meetings during AE Conference

Several additional events and meetings took place concurrently with the anniversary conference. These included: Board Meeting of All European Academies (ALLEA), Board Meeting with Annual Conference of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), accompanying exhibition of young artists“Areas under Curves” and “Early Modern Print Culture in Central Europe Seminar”.

“Areas under Curves” Exhibition

The exhibition presented four artists related to the Academy of Young Scholars and Artists and employed at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design.

The Academy of Young Scholars and Artists is a platform for interdisciplinary, free and intense intellectual exchange. The first in Poland, the Academy was launched in 2010. The Academy provides space for its members representing various fields to realize the ancient ideal of the unity of learning. Members of the Academy were actively involved not only in the exhibition, but also in the Annual Meeting of the Academia Europaea. They participated in the conference as individual session speakers (Ewa Jankowska) and Burgen Scholars (Adam Krężel and Bartłomiej Skowron). More information at: www.akademia.wroc.pl.

“Early Modern Print Culture in Central Europe” Seminar

The Wrocław Seminars is an initiative of Academia Europaea,University of Wrocław and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond appointed as a three-year project including three international seminars. This whole projectis intended mainly for young researchers (before the doctorate or right after it) from Central and Eastern Europe. AE Board wants to transform this initiative into multiannual program aiming at the development of scientific and research bridges between Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.

The first seminar Early Modern Print Culture In Central Europe took place at the same time as 25th Conference of Academia Europaea from16 to 18 September 2013, at the Faculty of Philology, University of Wrocław. Support and substantial assistance of the Dean of Faculty Prof. Marcin Cieński and professor of the Netherlands Philology Prof. Stefan Kiedroń were of invaluable help.

The program of the seminar was designed to enable a development of a platform to exchange opinions between experienced scientists from Europe and USA and young researchers mainly from Central and Eastern European countries who are at the beginning of their academic careers. The seminar gathered more than 50 persons, with 24 presenting their papers. Such great personalities as Prof. Jonathan Israel – great historian of the Age of Enlightenment or Prof. Andrzej Borowski from the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Bela Mester from the Budapest Unviersity and Prof. Anne-Marie Rimm from the Uppsala University participated in the seminar.

The seminar’s Scientific Committee decided on connecting the event with the annual conference of Academia Europaea taking place in Wrocław at the same time. This decision gave young scholars from Central and Eastern Europe the unique chance to participate in such an important European scientific event as AE conference.

The International Seminar Early Modern Print Culture In Central Europe will be implemented in Wrocław for several years as the project named The Wrocław Seminars. The project has established foundations for integration of various scientific communities, especially for developing bridges connecting scholars from Central and Eastern Europe with those from Western Europe. Financial support of the conference by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond funds contributed to accomplishment of assumed goals and affected positively internationalization and development of research and development potential in Poland.

Visiting Lectures
As in 2012, the Wrocław Hub arranged a series of lectures for local students. The purpose of these visits is to bring distinguished researchers to Wrocław in order to enhance the quality of higher education and supplement various faculties of the University.

The first visiting lecture was held at Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences and led by Professor Lars Walløe, the president of Academia Europaea. In this lecture, Professor Lars Walløe talked about “Epidemics of the bubonic plague, their causes and consequences for European history in the late medieval and early modern period”.

In addition, Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub –Wrocław invited two AE members to make a contribution to “Summer School on Democracy: How old and new democracies cope with the economic crisis” organized by the University of Wrocław in cooperation with the University of Koblenz – Landau, Université libre de Bruxelles, the Babes-Bolyai University and the University of Bucharest. Professor Pieter Emmer, the Board Member of the AE shared his view on the impact of decolonisation on European politics between 1945 and 1975. Professor Klaus von Beyme, one of the most important representatives of comparative political science, gave a lecture about transformations of politics and economics in Eastern Europe. All lectures were streamed live.

Students interships and bilateral agreements

Thanks to two bilateral agreements signed between the Academia Europaea, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College Foundation of Eastern Europe in Wrocław and the University of Wrocław the Wrocław Hub is open for MA students. In 2013 four students were pursuing their traineeships at AE Office: Anna Malanda (MA Student from the Faculty of English, University of Wrocław), Patrick Kozakiewicz (Dual MA Student of Political Science Department, University of Wrocław), Patrycja Piątkiewicz (MA Student from the Faculty of Romance Philology, University of Wrocław) and Mateusz Ball (MA Student of Political Science Department, University of Wrocław).

Internship basic duties, among other things, were: familiarization of the structure and operations within the AE, editing the AE website (text structure, text selection, editing, formatting) and working with Wiki syntax, helping with co-organising lectures and conferences, translation, verification, writing and proofreading of documents and texts.

In addition, all parties of the agreements decided to make a commitment to the development and maintenance of long-term cooperation in the areas of higher/further education, science and promotion of scholarships. Cooperation between the parties is executed through programs of mutually agreed activities: co-organisation of international scientific conferences, seminars and summer schools, exchange of experiences in the field of education and training programs to adapt to the needs of the labour market, internationalisation of scholars from Wrocław with Academia Europaea members.

The Academia Europaea and the City of Wrocław would like to sincerely thank you for your participation in the 25th Anniversary Conference of Academia Europaea.

We hope that the meeting provided you with many possibilities for re-establishing personal friendships and for establishing closer cooperation, along with a broader view of the very wide range of issues discussed.

Thank you for being a part of the Academia Europaea 25th Anniversary Conference – the event provided an important voice in the many discussions addressing issues relevant to the current state of science and scholarship and its future that we hope might result in a more sustainable and responsible research program within the European area. We hope that you agree with us, that the many very eminent and respected panelists and speakers who took part, collectively managed to create an extraordinary event in the very heart of Europe.

The event would not have been possible without the generous support of the City of Wroclaw and of the many external sponsors. We are especially grateful for the precious contribution of the following Sponsors: Cambridge University Press, Heinz-Nixdorf Foundation, The Royal Society, Kungliga Vitterhetsakademien, Sir Ralph Kohn, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Volkswagen Foundation, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., and the project „Lower Silesian Centre of Materials and Biomaterials Wrocław Research Centre EIT+”, who acted as our ‘Partner’ for the conference.

The exhibition presented four artists related to the Academy of Young Scholars and Artistsand employed at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design.

The Academy of Young Scholars and Artists is a platform for interdisciplinary, free and intense intellectual exchange. The first in Poland, the Academy was launched in 2010. The Academy provides space for its members representing various fields to realize the ancient ideal of the unity of learning. Members of the Academy were actively involved not only in the exhibition, but also in the Annual Meeting of the Academia Europaea. They participated in the conference as individual session speakers (Ewa Jankowska) and Burgen Scholars (Adam Krężel and Bartłomiej Skowron). More information at: www.akademia.wroc.pl.

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16 Sep 2013

Norman Davies - Portrait of Central European City

Listen to the lecture that was given during the Academia Europaea Congress in Wrocław on 16 September 2013.

The Jan Nowak-Jezioranski College of Eastern Europe, partner of the Academia Europaea Wrocław Knowledge Hub and Artist-in-Residence Programme A-i-R Wro are pleased to announce the call for applications for the first edition of Writing Residency in Wojnowice.

If you are a writer or poet and want to spend 4-8 weeks in Wojnowice, a picturesque village just 7 kilometers from Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016, we would like to kindly invite you to send us your application!

Writing Residency Programme is intended to support and promote artists representing a variety of literary genres, forms as well combining different styles. Applicants are also invited to cooperate with Lower Silesian artists and local community to exchange experiences and strengthen international cultural ties.

WOJNOWICE CASTLE – PLACE OF RESIDENCE
Wojnowice Castle is located just 7 kilometers outside Wrocław, close to the railway line Wrocław-Legnica. The castle offers an extensive library and work space, a music room with a Bechstein piano, a restaurant and a cafe, guest rooms (all with private bathrooms and the Internet) and a large park. During the residency in Wojnowice there will be a chance to visit other urban centers and rural areas of Lower Silesia, including Wrocław.

If you are a writer or poet and want to spend 4-8 weeks in Wojnowice, a picturesque village just 7 kilometers outside Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016, we would like to kindly invite you to send us your application!

Writing Residency Programme is intended to support and promote artists representing a variety of literary genres, forms as well combining different styles. Applicants are also invited to cooperate with Lower Silesian artists and local community to exchange experiences and strengthen international cultural ties.

WOJNOWICE CASTLE – PLACE OF RESIDENCY
Wojnowice Castle is located just 7 kilometers outside Wrocław, close to the railway line Wrocław-Legnica. The castle offers an extensive library and work space, a music room with a Bechstein piano, a restaurant and a cafe, guest rooms (all with private bathrooms and the Internet) and a large park. During the residency in Wojnowice there will be a chance to visit other urban centers and rural areas of Lower Silesia, including Wrocław.

The program is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The organizers reserve the right to host only one call for applications in 2016 in case of a large number of applications.

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15 May 2013

Registration for the 25th Annual Conference is now open.

Participants who wished to attend the 25th Academia Europaea Annual Meeting, which took place in Wrocław (Polnad) on 16–19 September, 2013, could register through the website of the conference.

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25 Apr 2013

Bilateral agreements signed by the Academia Europaea

At the end of April 2013 two bilateral agreements were signed between: the Academia Europaea, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College Foundation of Eastern Europe in Wrocław and the University of Wrocław. All parties of the agreements decided to commit to the development and maintenance of long-term cooperation in the areas of higher/further education, science and promotion of scholarships.

Cooperation between the parties was executed through programs of mutually agreed activities: co-organisation of international scientific conferences, seminars and summer schools, exchange of experiences in the field of education and training programs to adapt to the needs of the labour market, internationalisation of scholars from Wrocław with Academia Europaea members and the development of other forms of cooperation agreed upon by the parties, in particular enabling internships for students of the University of Wrocław at the Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub.

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01 Mar 2013

Wrocław Promo Movie by Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub - Wrocław

A promotional video about Wrocław and the Wrocław Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea was released.

Watch the video below:

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01 Feb 2013

2013 Annual Conference Website

The website for the 25th Annual Conference of the Academia Europaea, held in Wrocław (Poland) on 16–19 September 2013, was available atwww.ae2013wroclaw.com.

The website contained information on the programme, speakers, dates and venues.

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07 Jan 2013

The Wrocław Seminars project started

Relocating Central Europe in Early Modern and Modern Communication Networks

The borders of the EU and NATO have been shifted eastward since the end of the Cold War, but this has not yet been reflected sufficiently in international research in the humanities. The old borders between Eastern and Western Europe are still tacitly assumed. Even when revisionist historians and cultural critics aim at a correction of traditional views in which Western Europe forms the supposed centre of Modernity, the shifts remain within the borders of the ‘old’ EU, giving Southern Europe a more prominent place, or pertain to former imperial space. Central Europe in most cases remains an empty border space. To quote one example, Charles Withers, in his recent Placing the Enlightenment: Thinking Geographically about the Age of Reason (2007) gives due attention to the Enlightenment in southern Europe, but he mentions Poland, for instance, only once in its role of the great vanishing act of the Eighteenth Century.

The proposed symposia aim at relocating Central Europe in international humanities research by way of focussing on international communication networks since Gutenberg. The focus on communication networks not only makes it possible to counter familiar conceptions of the supposed cultural isolation of Central Europe from the West, but it also prevents the creation of new essentialised geopolitical identities. Instead, all relations are to be considered within the same analytical framework, in which they should preferably be studied beyond familiar conceptions of territories and borders, fixed centres and margins. These relations are always stretched in contingent and non-deterministic ways, across space to prevent privileging either Central or Western Europe in a particular investigation. In all three symposia special attention will be given to the role of communication technologies – correspondence networks, the printing press, digital media – and their consequences for the dissemination of knowledge. The objective is to pinpoint places in Central Europe in these knowledge networks, both on a European scale (the first two symposia) and globally during the period of European expansion (the third symposium).

The intention is to develop a working model for future expansion into recognised “AE Summer Schools”. The establishment of a clear annual programme of high-level learning programmes, bring to Wroclaw the very best scholars from across Europe to mentor and present topics to groups of younger scholars and the pre and post doctoral levels. Over-time the AE wishes to make these annual events recognisable at the European level – ‘a must have’ for higher level education and for emerging scholars. The humanities are under threat from erosion of specialist areas of scholarship. These summer schools would provide a means to safeguard European expertise into the future.

Topics of the three symposia

Early Modern Print Culture in Central Europe

Literary Margins and Digital Media

Central European Representations of Colonial Worlds

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12 Dec 2012

Inauguration of the Academia Europaea’s Barcelona Knowledge Hub

Andreu Mas-Colell, the Catalan Minister of Economy and Knowledge, opened the presentation ceremony of the Academia Europaea’s new hub for the Mediterranean and Southern European region, located in Barcelona. Short addresses were also given by Lars Walløe, the president of the Academia Europaea, Salvador Giner, the president of the Institute for Catalan Studies, Enric Claverol, director of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, and Enric Banda, director of the Area of Science, Research and Environment of “la Caixa” Foundation.

The Board of Trustees of Academia Europaea was pleased to announce the establishment of an exciting new facility in the City of Wroclaw, Poland.

This new Centre of the Academia Europaea was knew as the AE-Knowledge Hub (AEKH-Wrocław) and started its academic operations at the beginning of 2012.

The facility has been established with the generous support of the Mayor and the City authorities of Wroclaw and provided the Academia with a focus point for future development of high-level Academic activities and a point of contact for strengthening of European relationships between Academic Communities. It was envisaged that the Hub developed a range of high-quality international activities including for example; summer schools, conferences, workshops and other interdisciplinary project based initiatives. It was also support and eventually took over the content provision for AE-INFO at www.Ae-info.org. The Hub provided a new dynamic centre to support European scholarship and excellence across all disciplines. It also helped to maintain science integrity in the best traditions of European science and scholarship.